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Kessel officially signed on the dotted line Tuesday — just before the morning skate of the first game of the year.

“I’ve always wanted to be here,” said Kessel. “It’s the place I wanted to play in. I want to finish my career here. We want to win. It would be a great city to win in and we’re going to do everything we can to make that happen.”

Kessel said his self-imposed deadline for getting a deal done before the start of the season was important.

“During the year you could worry about it (not having a contract),” he said. “This year, I want to focus on the game and go as far as we can as a team.”

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It’s an eight-year deal worth $64 million. It’s the biggest contract in Maple Leafs history. He has the seventh biggest salary cap hit in the NHL.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to announce a contract extension with Phil Kessel before noon. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

“He’s now put himself as one of the great young stars of the game,” said Leafs GM Dave Nonis. “If we would have gone through the season in its entirety, Phil would have been one of the youngest unrestricted free agents in history.”

Kessel turns 26 on Wednesday. His salary befits his offensive production. He led the Maple Leafs with 20 goals and 52 points last season, finishing tied for seventh in the league.

Kessel had at least 30 goals in his first three seasons with the Maple Leafs, and in seven NHL seasons with the Bruins and Maple Leafs, he has 185 goals and 379 points in 504 games.

“You always have to improve your game in this league,” said Kessel. “Guys get bigger, faster, stronger. You have to try to grow as a player and adjust your game, so you can stay at the level you want to be at.”

Kessel has had his share of detractors, but won over Leaf Nation in the playoffs, leading the team with four goals, including two game-winners.

“If you’re not getting better, you’re staying the same or getting worse,’ said Leafs GM Dave Nonis. “I think Phil made some great strides in that series. He had a great year. He had several great years. If you look at his goal totals and point totals over the past two or three years, he’s among the top players in several categories.

“His desire to win and to compete and to do things that don’t come natural to him, that opened a lot of people’s eyes. He has to continue doing that. And he knows it.”

His game has seemed to get to a higher level under coach Randy Carlyle.

“We told Phil he couldn’t remain a one-dimensional player,” said Carlyle. “We’ve asked him to change his game, to adapt his game to more of a cycle, more board work. All those things . . . those are things that to me show the growth of a young player.”

Nonis said contract talks only began last week, when Nonis and Kessel were together for Kessel’s NHL suspension hearing.

“We weren’t going to throw money at any player, including Phil, until we were sure he wanted to be in Toronto,” said Nonis. “Phil and I got together late last week, he brought up to me how important it was to stay. That’s when we started negotiations.

“I wanted to hear from him and I wanted him to tell me he wanted to be a Toronto Maple Leaf. Once he did, we worked quickly and worried about reaching agreement.”

Nonis says he has no worries about the length of the contract: eight years.

“He’s got a lot of quality years left ahead of him,” said Carlyle. “That’s one of the reasons why we were very comfortable going to an eight-year term.”

The Leafs attention turns next to captain Dion Phaneuf, whose contract also expires. Phaneuf said he is fine with negotiating through the season

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